What's New?

I've realized that there are a lot of things I haven't made mention of yet, so before I forget, let me do so now.

I went and visited the Lost Colony Exhibit at the NC Museum of History. It was amazing! They had John White's original water colors on loan from The British Museum! I think I spent over an hour in that exhibit, and it was very, very worth it. They did allow photography of some sections, but wouldn't you know - my camera batteries were dead. What could I do? C'est la vie.

I got my biochemistry exam back - the one I was dead certain I wouldn't make above a B on. I got an A+. Before the curve. I was a little surprised. Well, that's a bit of an understatement. When the TA handed me my exam and I saw my score, I dropped an F-bomb, and then quickly covered my mouth. I don't think anyone else noticed. But it soon became apparent that my score was a rarity - a lot of people were disgruntled and were muttering mutinous sentiments, and then my professor decided to give us a two point curve (the exam is out of 32 points, so that's about 7 points out of 100). That quelled things a bit. But now I don't even have to take the fourth exam, but I should because I do have to take the final and all this new material will be on it.

I watched The Dinner Game (Le Dîner de Cons) - a French film that is analogous to a classy Dumb and Dumber here in the States - everyone knows it and has seen it at least ten times. Ok, maybe that's a bad analogy, but that's what my French Professor said. The movie is hilarious! It's about this group of friends who throw a dinner party every week and each one invited the stupidest person they can find, and then they sit back an watch their idiots make fools of themselves. When the idiots go home, the friends vote on whose idiot was the dumbest. So, this guy, Pierre, finds an idiot, Pignon, and invites him to the dinner. But, Pierre throws out his back before the dinner and has to cancel. Too late: Pignon arrives at Pierre's, and then when Pierre realizes how genuinely stupid Pignon is, he decides they have to go to that dinner party. Pignon, full of bumbling good will and kindness, keeps trying to help Pierre and everything he does goes horribly yet hilariously wrong. It's a wonderful film, and it's short - about 80 minutes. Rent it, if you can. It is in French, so be sure to get the one with English subtitles.

Speaking of French, today we had to use the past tense verb conjugation to create an alibi for some hypothetical crime that happened last night. Overachiever that I am, I said, "The man in the yellow hat lost his monkey and asked me to help him find George (curious George). I found the monkey in the arms of a young girl named Madeline. Madeline was lost and needed the directions to her school, so I escorted her to her school, and then took George. Then George
stole a banana, ate the banana, and then I slipped on the banana peel and broke my leg. I then spent the rest of the night in the hospital." Of course, I said all that in French, and it earned me a bravo.

And back to French, we listened to a song by Patrick Bruel called, "C'est la vie." We each had a copy of the lyrics and were told to find all uses of the past tense. So I did, but I also noticed that Patrick Bruel looked very familiar. I thought he might have been Louis in 1995's Sabrina (starring Julia Ormond as the title character). I get back to my room, do a quick search on the IMDb and lo and behold, it was him! And boy is he hot! My goodness! In what has to be the shortest consideration time ever, Patrick Bruel was inducted into my hall of fame on the same day that I was introduced to him (I did see him in Sabrina years ago, but this was the first time I'd ever recognized him as a very desirable man). Just look at him! Why is he so irresistible? Well, he's French - so he's got the accent and the passion and romance all in his favor. He's also a good actor and a wonderful singer - a very popular singer in Francophone countries. And he's breathtakingly handsome! That's enough for me...he's in. You can watch some of his music videos on you tube if you just type in his name.

I also finally watched The Departed, and I have to say, Wow! What a movie! I did not see the end coming - but it was memorable. And the film has done the unthinkable - I shudder even to think about what it's done - it's really really shocking. I actually - God! I can't believe I'm saying this - I actually...kinda...like Leonardo diCaprio now - as an actor. He's not getting an invitation to my Hall of fame - things haven't progressed that far, but let's just say that his days as pussy boy numero uno are over.